The Death Penalty

Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors

Alfred B. Heilbrun Jr.

Capital punishment attracts strong and opposing moral positions: execution by the state under any condition is wrong versus execution as just retribution for heinous killing. In this book, the author rejects these moral arguments as a basis for determining the social value of the death penalty and considers the issue scientifically by determining whether capital punishment deters willful killing.

Using evidence from legal history, the impairment / abolishment of the death penalty between 1968 and 1976 and the right of states to adopt or abolish the death penalty, this book examines the statistical relationship between the death penalty and deterrence. The investigation considers the murder rate during periods with and without the threat of capital punishment, the role of state commitment to its own capital punishment system, and fairness in administering the death penalty.

Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus and Distinguished Emeritus Fellow at Emory University. Professor Heilbrun holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Iowa. He is also author of Criminal Dangerousness and the Risk of Violence and Stress and the Risk of Psychological Disorder in College Women, both from the University Press of America.

Chapter 1 AcknowledgmentChapter 2 PrefacePart 3 Section I: Does the Death Penalty Deter Willful Killing?: Chapter 1. The Interminable Debate Regarding the Death Penalty; Chapter 2. The 45-Year Study of the Death Penalty and Deterrence; Chapter 3. Conceptual Lacunas in the Deterrence EvidencePart 4 Section II. Can the Death Penalty be Fairly Implemented?: Chapter 4. Fair Practice in Adjucating the Death Penalty: The Issue of Race; Chapter 5. Fair Practice in Adjucating the Death Penalty: The Issue of Gender; Chapter 6. Fair Practice in AdjucatPart 5 Section III. Putting it All Together: Chapter 8. A Verdict on the Death Penalty as a Deterrent to Murder; Chapter 9. Fairness in Adjucating the Death Penalty

The Death Penalty

Beyond the Smoke and Mirrors

Paperback

Summary

Summary

Capital punishment attracts strong and opposing moral positions: execution by the state under any condition is wrong versus execution as just retribution for heinous killing. In this book, the author rejects these moral arguments as a basis for determining the social value of the death penalty and considers the issue scientifically by determining whether capital punishment deters willful killing.

Using evidence from legal history, the impairment / abolishment of the death penalty between 1968 and 1976 and the right of states to adopt or abolish the death penalty, this book examines the statistical relationship between the death penalty and deterrence. The investigation considers the murder rate during periods with and without the threat of capital punishment, the role of state commitment to its own capital punishment system, and fairness in administering the death penalty.

Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus and Distinguished Emeritus Fellow at Emory University. Professor Heilbrun holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Iowa. He is also author of Criminal Dangerousness and the Risk of Violence and Stress and the Risk of Psychological Disorder in College Women, both from the University Press of America.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 AcknowledgmentChapter 2 PrefacePart 3 Section I: Does the Death Penalty Deter Willful Killing?: Chapter 1. The Interminable Debate Regarding the Death Penalty; Chapter 2. The 45-Year Study of the Death Penalty and Deterrence; Chapter 3. Conceptual Lacunas in the Deterrence EvidencePart 4 Section II. Can the Death Penalty be Fairly Implemented?: Chapter 4. Fair Practice in Adjucating the Death Penalty: The Issue of Race; Chapter 5. Fair Practice in Adjucating the Death Penalty: The Issue of Gender; Chapter 6. Fair Practice in AdjucatPart 5 Section III. Putting it All Together: Chapter 8. A Verdict on the Death Penalty as a Deterrent to Murder; Chapter 9. Fairness in Adjucating the Death Penalty